Like Water
by EpitomesAndRoses
Summary: Scorpius/Rose. They work through the differences that have haunted their families for generations. Set in their 7th year, 26 years after the war. Rated M for a reason. Multiple Chapters up soon.
1. Prologue

Title: Like Water

**Title**: Like Water

**Summary**: Scorpius/Rose. We work through the differences that have haunted their families for generations. Set in their 7th year, 26 years after the war. Rated M for a reason.

**Author's Note**: I've had this one in my head for a while, and I'm finally getting around to it. I'm really excited about this pairing because it feels like it can go anywhere. Prologue basically begins from the platform, and ends with a little background info that will become important in later chapters. I really love this pairing and I hope that you all like it too. All reviews are welcome.

Prologue:

February, 5th Year

What she remembers about those moments was the noise: an odd creaking groaning sound from beneath her which turned into the terrible crack that sounded louder than a thunderbolt. And then there was cold. Such an icy deep penetrating cold that shot through her to the marrow. She remembers struggling, but she was dragged down under the ice by the amount of layers she'd put on to ward off the cold before she went ice skating. Eventually it was all too much and it sucked her under into blackness.

_A train whistle blew nearby. Rose was practically shaking with nerves and excitement. She clutched her mother's old book close to her chest and tried to remember to breathe. Though her brother, Hugo – and her father, truth be told—had made fun of her for it all summer, she had reread it three times. Her dad kept telling her it was pointless, but he _never_ said it within earshot of her mother, and if Rose knew her parents, she knew that that was a sign that it was important. _

_She fingered the tattered edge of the hardcover. If anything, Rose believed in the book, and in some way she believed that it would help her make her transition into a brand new life easier. _

_"Hi."_

_Rose looked up to see her cousin, Albus, who looked like his nerves were way worse than her own. She gave him a reassuring smile. While her parents spoke with her aunt and uncle she knocked her elbow into his, briefly releasing her hold on her book, and murmured "Alright there Al?" _

_He tried for a smile but it fell flat. Because they were only a month and three days apart of all her cousins she was closest with Al, and she could tell that he wasn't in a mood to talk about it. _

_Her father drew her away from her worries over Albus by addressing her. "Make sure you beat him in every test, Rosie. Thank God you inherited your mother's brains." Rose looked for the boy her father was mentioning and she found a short, white-blond haired boy with a pointed chin and bright blue eyes. He caught her gaze for a moment before looking away at something his mother, a woman with dark hair piled on her head and an expensive coat was saying to him. Rose gave her father a cheeky grin. Despite the fact that Hugo liked to torment her some, Rose was the child who had gotten her fathers acerbic wit. _

_But he wasn't looking because her mother was admonishing him, _again_. "You're right, sorry," he said with a quick grin. He looked a Rose again, "Don't get _too_ friendly with him, though, Rosie. Granddad Weasley would never forgive you if you married a pureblood." _

_Later, she and Albus tried to find a seat as far from James as possible as he was being his usual git self. They stopped at an empty compartment and let themselves in. As soon as Rose sat on the plushy red seat she opened her book to page one and began to read. Albus groaned, "You're reading it again? Haven't you got it memorized yet?" _

_"Not quite," she said wryly. They paused in their conversation as they heard the door slide open. _

_Standing in the doorway was the boy from platform 9 ¾ looking a little green around the edges. "Can I sit here?" he asked weakly. Rose and Albus gave each other a look and almost instantly agreed. _

_"Are you alright there?" Albus questioned as Rose made room on the seat next to her. _

_"I'm a little motion sick actually," he said his hand clutching the wall "If you two don't want me to stay, it's ok. It wouldn't be the first compartment was I asked to leave." He tried to smile like it was a joke, but he seemed to be steeped in a wave of nausea which marred his pretty features. Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. _

_"Have you taken any potions to help with it?" Rose asked, concerned._

_He shook his head slowly, "Nah. Didn't want my parents to think I couldn't handle going away. Mum was a bit of a wreck as it was." Shakily he ran a hand through his blonde hair. _

_"I've got something that should work," she told him as she got up and pulled out one of her bags which had her school robes folded neatly inside and a few extras her mother had packed just in case. Rummaging around, she found it, a small blue bottle of Miss Quick's No-Sick Fix. Her mum had given her the last of the bottle, so there wasn't much in it. She handed it to the boy. "Sorry it isn't much," she offered lamely. _

_"S'ok." he mumbled. Carefully he unscrewed the cap and drained the last bit. A few minutes later and the green had left his face. _

_"Thanks for that," he told her, giving a real smile. _

_Rose returned with her father's trademark grin. "No problem. Rose Weasley, by the way." She held out her hand for him to shake. The boy had a look of something on his face, but he hid it quickly and shook her hand. It was a little stiffer than she had expected. _

_"Scorpius Malfoy." He seemed to be waiting for a reaction. _

_Rose had heard of the Malfoys of course. It was why her father's earlier comments about pure bloods made sudden sense. Mr. Malfoy, Scorpius's father worked at the ministry with her mother and he occaisionally made a petition that her parents frowned at. Other than that, she didn't know much. _

_"Albus Potter." Al was currently leaning over and offering his own hand. _

_"Good to meet you," Scorpius told them. At this Rose was surprised. Not everyone had a comment about her last name and family, but most people made a bit of a fuss of James, Al, and Lily's last name. A thousand questions about their famous father tended to pop instantly into their minds. _

_A lull rose in the conversation and the train compartment became a little awkward. Rose pulled out her book again. _

_"What are you reading?" Scorpius inquired. Albus snickered at her as Rose blushed a little. It was one thing if her family poked fun of her, quite another if a virtual stranger did it. _

_Straightening her shoulders and pulling on a haughty look, Rose got ready to defend her mother's book. "It's Hogwarts a History. It's my mums," she told him, her eyebrow quirked waiting for the inevitable response. _

_Malfoy smirked. "I have the latest version in my trunk." _

_This had been unexpected. Albus looked surprised. Rose tried to determine if he was making a barbed comment about her older copy, or if he was just making conversation. _

_She didn't have time to find out though. Her cousin Victoire Weasley pulled open the door, a shiny prefects badge attached underneath her Ravenclaw insignia. "Hey you lot, get your robes on, we're almost to Hogsmeade." Despite her summer trips to France with her parents to visit her mother's family every year since she was one, she still had a thick British accent like her father. She nodded her head to Albus, "And you tell that brother of yours, when I find him, his arse is mine." _

_"What for?" Albus asked, ignoring her language. _

_"Oh, he knows," Victoire said, her one-eight part Veela blood glittering most strongly in her blue eyes. "And he is going to pay, understand?" _

_"Got it." _

_"Rosie, love the hair," she told her other cousin as she whipped out the door. Rose blushed and fingered her auburn locks. About two years ago, the last time she'd really spoken to Victoire, she'd stupidly hacked it off with her grandmother's magicked sewing scissors. Her mother was unable to grow it back out for her, or even make it even because of the spells and she'd had to let it grow out naturally. It was finally about an inch below her shoulders and she wasn't planning on cutting it short any time soon. _

_Scorpius Malfoy was looking at her with an interested expression. _

_Feeling more confident after a compliment from her inhumanly beautiful cousin she said, "You ready for the next year?" _

Rose snapped awake. Her vision was bobbing and she was shivering uncontrolably. So cold, oh God, it was like she was being bombarded with needles. She let out a tiny moan while trying to force air into her bruised and frozen lungs.

She was wrapped in something dry, or dry in comparison to what she was wearing and she realized her vision was bobbing because she was being carried. She turned her head a faction and her nose bumped against Scorpius Malfoy's marble carved jaw.

"M-m-mmamam- al—f-f-f- oy," she tried to talk, but her teeth were chattering so badly she could barely speak.

His jaw was set and his normally cold blue eyes were darker and more frigid than she'd ever seen him. He's angry, she realized. And dripping. Malfoy too was wet from head to toe, his blond hair which normally flopped over his forehead and was barely an inch off of his shoulders was hanging in thick dregs and pasted to his scalp.

"Don't say anything," he told her, his voice rigid. "Your body is in shock. You won't accomplish anything by wearing yourself out trying to talk.

The next few minutes were a blur as Rose was carted to the hospital wing. Her vision went back and forth between almost completely black and color. Even when placed in dry clothes and under large blankets she couldn't stop shivering. She felt like she would never be _warm_ again.

She caught snatches of conversation, "fell into the lake," "can't stop shivering," "poor thing," "Mr. Malfoy not much better," "better give her something to put her asleep."

A blurred figure came up to her and held something liquid and warm to her lips while helping her sit up. "Okay Miss Weasley, drink up," the voice said soothingly.

Rose swallowed obediently, feeling liquid fire slide blissfully down her throat. Her vision darkened again and her eyelids became heavy. She yawned as she succumbed to the dark once more.

When she woke next, she could see perfectly again. Her shaking had subsided. Slowly she tried to sit up, testing to make sure she wouldn't go to fast and make herself dizzy. Her parents and her grandmother especially had made her careful and attentive to her health and healer over the years.

It was as she sat up that she felt a warm hand against hers. She raised her head to meet the blue eyes of Malfoy. She opened her mouth to speak and coughed.

"Alright there Weasley?" he asked, something like concern in his voice. He grabbed a steaming cup off of the side table. "Madame Longbottom told me to give this to you if you woke up."

Rose sat up more fully and took the cup. She sniffed before smiling and raising it to her lips for a taste. Perfect. She took another gulp of Mulkin's Stay Hot Hot Cocoa. Almost as good as what her mum made.

She realized that her hand was still in Malfoy's, though he wasn't doing anything to it. He was simply holding it, not tightly, but not like he thought she'd break either. And he wasn't tickling it the way her boyfriend Maxwell often did while they were together. Sometimes she wondered why he just couldn't be _still_. And now Malfoy was being still and she was wondering exactly what he was doing or even thinking, when the door to the hospital wing flew open. Malfoy dropped her hand like it was a hot brick and the two of them turned towards the crowd that had entered, all carrying various loads of sweets and get well cards. It was her copious amounts of cousins, who all quickly lined themselves up around the bed, and her friend Mirabelle McCleary.

They all started speaking at once, and by the time she'd assured them all that she was feeling much better, Malfoy was gone. Rose looked at Albus. His dark hair was messy as if he had just risen from bed not too long ago, but Rose knew that was its normal state. As always they had an uncanny ability to read each other, and with Al's odd way of observing every little imperceptible thing, he knew exactly why her gaze was falling on him. He shrugged his shoulders as if to say, "Just because he's in my house doesn't mean I know where he is." Rose sighed and buried herself back into her pillows, letting her attention become captured by Mirabelle and her older cousin James who were both ranting about how dead Maxwell was about to become for convincing her to go out onto thin ice in the first place, even though everyone knew that she wasn't a strong swimmer. Casually she drank her cocoa as she opened her chocolate frogs. Let them rant, she thought briefly, she'd deal with her soon to be ex-boyfriend who hadn't even shown his cowardly face soon enough. And after swallowing down a few of her favorite chocolate treats, Malfoy was all but forgotten for the moment.


	2. Chapter 1

**Title**: Like Water

**Summary**: Scorpius/Rose. We work through the differences that have haunted their families for generations. Set in their 7th year, 26 years after the war. **Rated M for a reason.**

**Author's Note**: Thanks everyone for the reviews. I'll try not to kill you with the cliff hangers and I'll try to get as much written this week because it's spring break and I've got the time, while I can. Normally I won't be able to put up a chapter a day. Hope everyone enjoys this chapter as much as the last. Reviews (and criticisms) are welcome!

Chapter 1:

August, 7th Year

Rose was late and frazzled. She practically slammed into the wall separating platform 9 ¾ from the rest of King's Cross station, and then she jogged towards the train dodging tearful first years and parents alike.

"Bloody hell," she muttered, though she knew it would make her mother wince if she could hear her. She began to try and lug the trunks onto the train.

"Need help?" she turned to the voice behind her. Albus was waiting, a kind look on his face. His robes with the green Slytherin emblem were already donned and the silver prefect badge gleamed from a fresh polish this morning.

"Yes please," Rose huffed, dropping the corner of her trunk and barely missing her toe. She wanted to cry, she was so frustrated. "I've no idea where Hugo went, and my mum and dad aren't here because of mum's _stupid_ conference. And I overslept and had to park the car and use muggle money. And you're all dolled up and ready for the meeting while I don't even resemble a prefect let alone Head Girl!"

"Relax. Hugo's over there with Lily. Looks like he's trying to chat up her friend, and good luck to him because that one's looser than any girl on the corner of Knockturn Alley, so it shouldn't be that difficult."

Rose blinked, "Well, don't let him just go after her. You ought to warn him."

"Aw come on Rosie, give the boy a break."

"He's only in fifth year Albus."

"People said a lot about _you_ in your fifth year Rose."

Rose blinked. That had hurt. "None of it was true though," she whispered.

Albus ran a hand nervously through his hair and then gave his cousin a one-armed hug. "I'm sorry," he told her, "I didn't mean to make you upset."

"S'ok," she told him and then gave a wry smile, "I was already upset. That was just the cherry on top."

He shoved the end of the last trunk in and picked up Rose's carry-on. "Come on, let's get you changed and into that meeting."

Rose followed him gratefully into the train.

Rose's instincts usually never steered her wrong, but she was completely unprepared for the rest of the morning. Though Al safely steered her to the loo to change, she told him to go on without her. She didn't want him to be late too.

However, after she changed and pinned her Head Girl badge to her robes, and combed out her hair that was still knotted from rolling out of bed and leaving quickly, she had a few more obstacles to face. Luckily most of them were things from her Uncle George's shop and she knew how to diffuse the situations rather quickly. If it hadn't been for the hex fight that was going on one car earlier than the one where her meeting was she might have been there at a respectable time. As it was, after sorting out the Slytherin and Hufflepuff fifth years and fixing what she could while telling the rest to go to the hospital wing before the feast, she was a spectacular forty-five minutes late. She made it to the Prefects Compartment just as they were all shuffling out. Rose groaned inwardly at the awfulness of her day so far.

Al's eyes were wide behind his glasses when he spotted her. "What happened to you?" he blurted out. Rose looked down confused and saw that there was a mess—the remains of a puking pastille were the on hem of her robes, a canary cream was somehow stuck to her sleeve, and there were various scorch mark on her robes caused both by the hex fight and her run in with her Uncle's (banned) fireworks. She looked absolutely horrid.

"I've had a bit of a run in with some—situations."

"Good lord woman, you look like you landed in a shelf at Wheezes."

She gave him a dry smile. "Just about. Is the Head Boy still in there? Is he angry with me? Who is it?" Rose was anxious. She knew if the situation were reversed she'd be furious at being left to deal with the prefects by herself this morning.

"Yeah, he's sorting out some of the meeting notes I think. Go on in, you'll see for yourself," he gave her the patented Potter-grin a look he and James used often which got them out of a lot. "I have to go meet Amelia."

"Amelia Bones?" Rose asked, her eyebrows raised.

"Yeah. Good luck," and before she could ask why she needed it, he was gone.

"Bugger," Rose muttered as she looked down at herself again. There was no real hope for it. George's joke shop wares were not made to come out of robes easily and it would take more than a scourgify to fix herself up. She sighed and rapped a quick knock on the door before letting herself in.

The Prefects Compartment was larger than most of the train's rooms—it was made to accomodate a large square table surrounded by plush chairs. There were two arm chairs at the head of the table where the Head Boy and Girl were expected to sit. Currently occupying one of these seats was her academic rival, Scorpius Malfoy. Rose was hardly surprised, he was one of the boys in her year she thought could have made the grades and had the good record to be nominated for the honor. Whether she was pleased, that was a different story. Their friendship ran from hot to cold back to hot again. One moment they could have an interesting deep conversation and the next they were fighting like their lives depended on it. Then would come the weeks of cold shouldering each other until one or the other needed a favor. Then the cycle started again. Sharing a dorm suite with him would make the cold shoulder all the more difficult to give and receive.

Malfoy had looked up when she entered the room. His usual smirk graced his mouth, probably, Rose mused, because of her appearance. "Weasley," he said, "Good of you to come."

Rose bristled, "I've had quite a morning Malfoy, as I'm sure you can see," she forced herself to take a deep breath before she laid into him more than was necessary. She tried to take the edge of out her voice as she said, "I'm sorry," in the swooshing release of her breath and "Please except my apology," congenially followed.

"Certainly." He stood up as he began to stack the papers he'd been writing on. As he scanned the top page, he dipped his quill in ink and began to scratch one more note, dipping his body towards the table. Rose realized how tall he had gotten. When they were first years they had been about the same height, because she was tall for a girl, having inherited her father's lanky frame, and he was short for a boy because he hadn't hit a growth spurt just yet. Now he was almost a head taller than her own 5'7". His hair had grown out a bit over the summer. He always kept it longer but now it hung about an inch and a half below his ears and flopped forwards into his eyes. No as he bent over the table he had to push it back out of his eyes. After finishing he looked up at her, "What?" he asked.

Rose realized she had been staring and felt her cheeks go pink. "Nothing."

Malfoy looked himself over. "I don't have anything on my robes do I?" As always they were respectable and expensive.

"I believe that would be me," Rose said, trying not to take his comment as a personal jab. Scorpius Malfoy often said things that Rose took as a personal affront that he only meant to be statements. Or at least that was what he'd told her once.

A rare smile pulled up the corners of his mouth. He placed the papers he'd stacked in a folder, pushed in his chair and walked towards her. As he walked he pulled his wand out of his pockets. Eight inches, solid oak with a Veela hair twined with a unicorn hair for the core, an odd combination Rose had thought one hair from a seductress, the other from the beast of innocents.

Before she could protest he'd trailed the end of her way at her and said clearly, "Scourgify." Rose grimaced. Now she'd _never_ get the stains out. The only hope for them had been to owl George and have him send her a special anti-sticking potion he'd developed and offered free with his products (to prevent angry mums). Now they were barely fit for practicing for her N.E.W.T. potions exam.

When she looked at Malfoy again he had a thin line between his eyebrows placed there from confusion. Rose gnashed her teeth together and said, "You're not _supposed_ to Scourgify candies from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes you git. Haven't you ever bought anything from there?!"

Malfoy's blonde eyebrows snapped together they way they always did when he got defensive. Right before they tore into a fight. "No, actually, I haven't," he told her coldly.

Rose huffed angrily, as she began to inspect her robes. The puking pastille had turned a nasty rusty green color which looked worse that it's original orange, and the canary cream had all but exploded leaving lemon yellow streams embedded into her sleeves. A bloody fucking mess for a bloody fucking day, she thought.

"Besides," Malfoy said loftily, his blue eyes still glinting angrily, "If you hadn't been so busy eating candies from your families _joke shop_ maybe you would have made it on time to the meeting and wouldn't have had to worry about my damaging up your robes.

Rose opened her mouth, ready to spit fire. He too was prepared, his body set into a stance like marble. He was always the more steady one's in their fights. His words may have been as ridiculous as her own, but the entirety of her acted like a rocket with a lit fuse when mad. She would take on and burn everyone and everything that stood in her way.

Rose took an incredibly deep breath and forced herself to swallow the insult she wanted to hurl at him. Her dad would be a bit pouty at the prospect of her backing down from Malfoy, but her mum would be right proud of her swallowing down a few choice curse words.

Wordlessly, letting the heat of her eyes smolder her anger towards him, she snatched the meetings notes from his hand and she whirled away towards the door.

"By the way Weasley," he drawled calmly when she reached the door, "You've something purple dripping through your hair."

Rose slammed the door behind her so hard it rattled. Feeling like she might start to breakdown from the awful day she'd had she took a few deep breaths before walking quickly away. She'd never cried over anything Malfoy had said and she wasn't about to start now just because his insufferable nature had reared it's ugly head in the middle of an especially hard day.

Malfoy sat on the table hard.

He had been early. He had been so early that he may, in fact, have been the first student on the train. He'd been there an hour before any of the prefects were even expected to show up. And he'd done it because he had been certain that Rose Weasley, his fellow Head student would do the same and probably beat him to it. He was a fool.

He clenched and released his fists a few times, trying to free up the energy wound tight and coiled within him. He always felt wound up when she was around. If it wasn't forcing himself not to lose his cool with her, it was forcing himself not to reach and brush back the particularly unruly red curl that never, ever remained tucked behind her ear. He felt even more of a fool at thinking about it because it was that damnable red curl that had been the start of all this in the first place.

They'd had a fight in fourth year. They always had a fight in fourth year. After the disastrous turn their friendship had taken (which led to it's subsequent ending) at the end of their third year, there was no question as to why they argued in their fourth year. The truth was there wasn't a thing they wouldn't fight about. And while Rose ranted at him for kissing a girl in the hallway where anyone could see one night, he'd first had the urge to tuck the curl behind her ear after it had flown at him in the midst of her anger.

He'd been a mix of emotions when she hadn't shown up early that morning. Mostly he was self satisfied. The two of them were always looking for a leg up upon the other and at first he'd thought it would be an excellent way to mock her, to be sitting in the chair, relaxed, when she walked in with all of the prefects.

And then it had been doubt. He hadn't known for certain that Weasley was the Head Girl of course. It was always supposed to be some sort of pleasant surprise rubbish. But she was the only one who ever managed to best him in their academics and her record was cleaner than his was. But surely if she wasn't there when the first prefect entered it must of been someone else.

It wasn't until her cousin and his dorm mate for the past seven years, Albus Potter, walked in second to last and told the group that Rose was on her way, that Malfoy felt an odd emotion. It was a mixture of worry, anger, and tension that fired instantly through his veins. Worry because he knew that whatever had kept her must be important, and for as long as he could remember, even before his schoolboy crush had developed he'd worried over her. Anger because he felt like a fool, as always. And tension because he wasn't entirely sure how to lead a group of prefects without her. For a moment he'd felt like he'd need another draught of no-sick fix even though he'd had his usual dose to combat his motion sickness earlier.

And then she'd shown up, looking horribly disheveled and he'd been worried over her again. Being near her was like riding a bloody rollercoaster. Even dressed in filth he'd wanted her. When she'd glowered at him he'd felt his cock stir under his robes for Merlin's sake. So she wouldn't see he had to write a pretend note on the meeting's notes only to have his traitorous appendage betray him again when he realized she was staring. At him.

There was only one thing to do and that was to get her cleaned up, sit her down, have a nice chat about the meeting and what he hoped they could accomplish before shagging her senseless in one of the Head's chairs. With the last part staying a delightful dream to mull over later in his mind.

Instead it had all fallen apart when he'd tried to clean her up, which only caused her to become more sexy because she was instantly angry.

It also made him angry and indignant, however, because she was always angry over circumstances he couldn't control.

And so they had had their fight and he had said they exact thing he knew would make her angry enough to slam the door, even though he hated it when she slammed the door because it left him feeling empty, exempting, this time, the raging hard-on he know possessed.

Bloody perfect way to start off the seventh and final year of his days at Hogwarts.


	3. Chapter 2

**Title**: Like Water

**Summary**: Scorpius/Rose. We work through the differences that have haunted their families for generations. Set in their 7th year, 26 years after the war. Rated M for a reason. 

**Author's Note**: Sorry about taking so long to get this up. I think it'll be about a week or so for every chapter from now on. I appreciate all of the support from everyone and I hope you enjoy the next installment. Let me know what you think!

Chapter 2:

September, 7th year

Mirabelle whistled as she took in the view of the lake from Rose's new Head Girl's dorm window. "All those years I thought you were nutters for wanting to get top marks on absolutely everything. But now I see why." Rose smiled from the four poster bed, hung with the usual red and gold curtains she was used to from her old dorms. She enjoyed the similar color scheme, but she was right grateful that there weren't four others identical to it in the room. Mirabelle was looking through the wardrobe, but there wasn't much to see there. 

Then she opened the door to the private bathroom and Rose gave a self satisfied smile before Mira shouted, "Good Lord, you could fit twenty Hippogriff's in here." 

"Thirty if they were end to end and all touched," Rose countered, grinning. 

"Oh," Mirabelle said, rolling her eyes sarcastically. "Well we can't all be as smart as the Head Girl now can we?" She hopped onto the bed next to her best friend, ignoring Rose's squeals as she mucked up the papers she'd been reading for preparation for her N.E.W.T.s.

"Come on, I'm hungry, don't you want to take a break? It's only the second week of school."

"Well..." Rose said, pausing as she scanned the pages strewn around her, trying to find the right order. 

"Earth to Rose," Mira said, grabbing up a handful of papers and waving them in front of her friend's face. 

Rose didn't look up as she snatched the pieces of parchment back and straightened them. She sighed once she got them all in order. "I guess." 

"Great," Mira hopped off of the bed. She grinned as she gave Rose a hand down and said, "And after breakfast, we can go take a peek at tryouts, Slytherin's got the field first and I must say, Jeremy Izze has gotten quite fit, especially after Scorpius got done training him last year. And Albus is never bad to look at," Mira gave Rose a wink. 

"Oh, please don't talk about my cousin, it was bad enough when you drooled over James all last year." 

"Pity he had to go get good marks and graduate, it's going to be difficult to replace him. Hey Rose, maybe you should go out for the Gryffindor team, our tryouts are right after Slytherin's." Mira was a Chaser, like Rose's cousin James had been. 

"No," Rose told her with finality, scowling. 

"Why not? Hugo's a great flyer, your cousins took the cup back and forth from each other the last three years, and your aunt was on the Holyhead Harpies for Merlin's sake. Don't tell me that it isn't in your genes to fly." 

"Relax," Rose told her, "Lily's going out for the team this year. She'll be perfect. You should have seen how angry she was when Hugo got picked over her for the one open spot last year."

"You forget that I was in the common room when she got back." 

"Point made," Rose said. Lily Potter had the temper of three Hippogriffs on the warpath. The year before she had trashed the Gryffindor common room and her dorm before she had finally settled down. 

"Still," Mirabelle said, her original idea not yet abandoned, "She can always wait till next year," 

"Haven't the time," Rose said loftily as they swooped down on the Gryffindor table. "I have to be Head Girl remember?" 

"Ah yes, how can we all forget. I'm simply shocked by the fact that you got that big head of yours through the door."

"Hey ladies, coming to tryouts?"

It was Albus. He was already dressed in his Quidditch gear. Star seeker on the team, between him and Scorpius, as Keeper their team was almost flawless. James had kept the cup for two years before Albus and Scorpius came along and beat him. James had won again last year, but now that it was Albus and Scorpius's seventh year, they weren't planning on letting it happen again. 

"You know it," Mirabelle answered, batting her eyelashes. 

"Great," Albus grinned. He turned to Rose, "Not killing yourself over work I hope." 

Rose smiled, "Well you know me." 

"You're going to tryouts too aren't you?" 

He and Mira gave her hopeful doe-eyed looks. She sighed, "I suppose." 

He clapped his cousin on the back. "Gotta run, Amelia's waiting." 

Mira huffed after he left, "Amelia's so bloody lucky." 

"Chin up," Rose told her, reaching for the Daily Prophet, "There's always Jeremy Izze."

Rose read through the headlines of the paper as Mira stuffed her face. She gasped when she realized that she recognized the incarcerated face of the man on the front page. 

She had only ever seen him on platform 9 ¾ at King's Cross every year. But she knew before even reading the headline that scaled the width of the newspaper that the man, though dirtier than his usual impeccable dress, was Draco Malfoy. 

"What?" Mira asked from her left, her word mumbled through a thick piece of toast. 

Rose quickly scanned the article before looking at her friend, "Scorpius's father has been taken into custody by a group of Aurors for suspicious activity most likely involving knowledge or participation in the group known as the Triage." 

Mira's eyebrows snapped together, "Do you think he knows yet?" Even Mira didn't notice that Rose had used Scorpius's given name, something she only did when distracted. 

"Yes," Rose answered, and even as she said it she looked for his face along the Slytherin table, but she didn't see it. 

As she had expected, he was on the Quidditch pitch early. The boy was a Quidditch fiend and it was only the fact that it was James's seventh year and that he was the son of Harry Potter the famous Gryffindor Seeker that had lost him the cup the year before. And it had been a very close game. Rose still remembered the reaming Albus had received, questioning whether his loyalty in that last game had been to his team or his older brother's pride. Rose had known better than to ask if that rumor was true. Al and James's relationship was rocky at best, but she knew they loved each other enough to sacrifice a few things along the way. Was it plausible? Yes. Did she want to know? Not a bloody chance. 

Mira poked Rose in the ribs and whispered, "Good Lord, you can practically see his abs through his Quidditch gear." 

She was of course referring to Jeremy Izze, who had classic good looks and a fit body and was currently doing loop-de-loops around the field. 

Rose rolled her eyes. Come Hufflepuff tryouts, Mirabelle would be drooling over Jason Dolley, and when Ravenclaw did theirs, she had a feeling a certain Martin Lovegood was going to be in for a quick snog behind the locker room. Mira had never really been picky about which house, she adored all Quidditch players as long as they could play well and look good doing it. She had managed to restrain herself when it came to her teammates, but only because of the referendum James had given her when he'd seen her batting her eyes at both of his beaters. The last thing James wanted was teammate jealousy. Though Mirabelle loved boys, she loved Quidditch just a smidgen more, and they way her marks were, she needed Quidditch if she wanted a well paying job anytime soon. 

Rose on the other had was keeping an eye out for a different Slytherin. She waved to Albus as he sped through a couple of turns around the stadium. He was a Seeker like his dad, and he darn good at it. It wasn't much of a wonder why Scorpius had gotten angry. When the Gryffindor seeker caught the snitch that day it was the first time he'd grabbed it during the entire season's games against Slytherin. 

Scorpius was standing in the middle of the field, his broom hovering beside him. He was dressed in his Quidditch gear the best money could buy. 

Rose watched him as Mira dragged her into the stadium for a good seat. A couple of other Slytherins were sitting there. A few third years watching their friends tryout and a few Slytherin girlfriends there for the same eyecandy that Mirabelle was. No one from any other house was there. Other houses were allowed to view practices unless it was forbidden by a team's captain but few rarely took advantage of it. The general consensus had always been, "you keep out of our hair, we'll keep out of yours." Rose had kind of broken that rule because she'd come to watch every tryout since Albus had gotten on the team, and occaisionally a couple of practices, and once Mira had found out and seen Jeremy Izze shirtless, she'd jumped right on board with it. 

Scorpius was angry, Rose could tell by the set of his shoulders. He was angry and brooding, which was almost worse. She waited for his first words before she decided how best to handle the situation when she got back to the dorm that night. If he barked out orders like a madman the best thing would be to avoid him as best as she could. If he was quiet she would try her patented hot cocoa approach. 

He glared up at the sky, "Potter! Stop swinging lazy-arse circles around the goddamn field. Tighter!" he paused, and then shouted, "Fucking tighter, if you don't go faster than that you'll never catch the fucking snitch." 

Rose had her answer, avoid at all costs. 

Scorpius barked a few more instructions to his Beaters before he turned and saw her and Mirabelle sitting in the stands. And the sight of his stormy face Rose shrank backwards involuntary. An alarm bell went off in her mind before he jumped on his broom and flew up to the stands. 

He hopped off and leaned against it. It remained steady behind him. 

"Ladies, how may I help you?" His face had calmed, but Rose could see in his eyes that his anger had not subsided. 

Before Rose could answer, Mira jumped in and said, while trying to lean around Scorpius and watch Jeremy, "Watching tryouts, what d'you think?" 

Scorpius's fists clenched and Rose opened her mouth to save the situation when he told them both, "I think you had better get the _fuck_ off of my field." 

They both stared at him. 

"We were invited," Rose told him quietly, her brown eyes calm and sad, waiting to see if she could placate him. 

"Well, I'm uninviting you Weasley. Leave." 

"Come off it Malfoy! We're here every year and you never had a problem before." Mira continued to dig them deeper into a hole. 

"Well that was before my bloody Seeker, your bloody cousin," he nodded at Rose, "threw a game and has to prove himself again. And on the off chance he didn't throw that game, then it means that you're telling secrets to all your teammates. So get your Gryffindor arse out of the stands and come back when it is your team's turn for the field." 

Mira huffed and stood angrily. "I'm going to say goodbye to Jeremy first," she snapped, "Unless you think he's conspiring with the _enemy_ now." She stalked away, leaving Rose alone with Scorpius. 

They watched each other for a few moments before he said, harshly "Go." 

Rose swallowed a sudden lump in her throat "I've come to these tryouts for five years, or do you forget things so easily." 

His blue eyes looked surprised at her response. 

Before he could reply Rose told him quietly so as not to betray a crack in her voice, "But I guess I should have figured that when it comes to you things don't always stick." 

His jaw clenched and he leaned down to snatch her bag and hand it to her. "Well I guess you shouldn't feel the need to come here anymore then."

Rose pressed her lips together and took a deep breath, trying to control her own rising temper. "Fine," she murmured, then she took her bag and left. 


	4. Chapter 3

Title: Like Water

**Title**: Like Water

**Summary**: Scorpius/Rose. We work through the differences that have haunted their families for generations. Set in their 7th year, 26 years after the war. Rated M for a reason.

**Author's Note**: I suck. My life took a very busy turn this past month and I didn't have time to write. I tried. You have no idea how many of my Logic notes have snatches of ideas for this chapter and those to come. Anyway I should have more time to write because it is (finally!) summer. My goal is to get three chapters up in the next ten days because I am going on a two week trip where I won't have my computer. Hopefully that will take the sting out of having to wait a month and a half for this chapter. I love you all my reviewers. Every time I got a new one it gave me warm fuzzies. :-) Enjoy!

Chapter 3:

Autumn, 7th Year

Ron Weasley watched his wife sleep. Her hair billowed out around her pillow – dark chestnut locks that he wanted to press his face into.

He had always thought that Hermione was beautiful but he thought that she looked ravishingly cute when she was asleep, long lashes swept gently across her cheekbones and her pink mouth curved into a small smile.

They had changed a lot in twenty-five years. His wife's small face now had laugh lines along her mouth and little crows feet near at the edges of her eyes because when she laughed her eyes squinted. In the daylight hours she liked to blame her husband for them, but Ron knew she wouldn't take the little lines back for the world.

He sighed inaudibly. He was already dressed to go and, as usual, Hermione did not know he was leaving.

He remembered the first time it had happened, his taking off in the middle of the night to come back four days later to find his heavily pregnant and livid wife trying to cook for herself. She had chucked the a pan of hot water and him, and luckily he had dodged. Later she had said that she did not know what she was throwing and was thankful that she hadn't burned any important bits of him. Grudgingly she had finally accepted that the reason he had left in the night and not told her was for her own safety and that of their future child. Her last words before demanding him to take out to dinner was that if she found out he was having an affair she would hex his bollocks off.

Like he would ever have an affair in the first place. He loved that woman more than anything in his entire life and he wouldn't muck up their marriage that easily.

He finished tugging on his shoes and then leaned down to leave a gentle kiss on Hermione's cheek. She didn't stir.

As he grabbed his cloak off the back of the door and walked down the creaky stairs past his children's bedrooms he thought about all that he had missed. Birthday parties, dance recitals, quidditch games, and even one Christmas, all for a thankless job. Though he loved his job, many times in his life he had thought that he was getting to old for the auror work. Most aurors who weren't crazy like Mad-Eye Moody retired to a job within the ministry after ten of fifteen years. Even Harry had settled for a job in the Department of Mysteries four years ago after an accident had nearly gotten him and his team killed and Ginny had given him an ultimatem.

He knew that Hermione would adore it if he retired from field work. But it was the only job he had ever known and one of the few things in his life that he had felt truly came easily to him. After all, he had been training for it since the three headed dog run-in his first year of school.

But now he was disappearing into the night again for how long he didn't know, on a mission he couldn't even tell Harry about. It was moments such as this that made him consider changing fields.

N.E.W.T.s, Rose had decided, were invented to be used a as a torture device.

She had never felt like she was being tugged in a thousand directions before, and she did not enjoy the feeling. Between her Head duties, the massive piles of homework, reading brochures on jobs offered by the ministry, going to classes, and finding time to eat Rose barely had any time to herself. And aside from the factors that she had to deal with at school, there were several other things that had chosen to step in her way at exactly the wrong time.

Her father was missing.

Actually, he was on a mission for the ministry, but growing up Rose had always had large holes in her memory of her father when he simply went "missing". When she was little no one had every really mentioned why he took unscheduled trips where he was gone for months at a time. When she was seven she finally confided the worries about where her father went that would sometimes keep her up at night to Albus and he had told her that his father did the same thing. James had overheard them, and after knocking them around the bush a few times he finally told them that because dad and Uncle Ron were Aurors sometimes they had to do missions in high secrecy.

Despite this, Rose had continued to think of her father as "missing", both in her memory and at important moments in her life, such as the Christmas where a blizzard blew so hard it knocked the panes out of one of the windows, or the summer that she got lost in the forested area near The Burrow and her Uncle George had found her, or the winter where she had almost drowned in the lake behind Hogwarts.

Even though over the years her family, and later Mirabelle, had all told her that she shouldn't worry so much, Ron and Harry had faced so much over their lifetimes that a few missions were a piece of cake. And since her third year her father's missions hadn't kept him away for more than a week or so. Regardless, Rose continued to worry over her witty, bumbling father, especially now that her mother had written to her saying, "Crookshanks is as ginger as ever," in the P.S. line of the last letter, their code for "He isn't back yet," meaning he'd been gone now for three weeks.

And aside from that, Rose knew for certain that this mission was much more dangerous. Even though the ministry still had Draco Malfoy in custody, Rose knew that whatever her father was doing it had something to do with the Triage.

The Triage was a group that had appeared a few years ago. While many who did illegal dark art practices were supporters of Voldemort trying to foolishly bring back a semblance of his reign, or to just plain bring him back again, the Triage was entirely independent of Voldemort. Everything they did, from leaving dead cats floating next to street lamps in Muggle London, to the murder of Eveline Rotheson a ministry official, could in no way be pointing towards Voldemort. Her father had told her that the reason it was so hard to find them was that the Auror department had become so good at ferreting out Voldemort supporters or Voldemort copycats, that it was ill equipped to deal with anything new.

And so they were still out there, lurking. Tales would rise up in the Daily Prophet or The Quibbler every so often about a Triage "seance" (which is what their meetings were called) being broken into, only to have the mysterious members disappear without even a disapparating trace. In all the centuries since disapparating had been created no one had been able to do it without leaving a trace, or a kind of follow line, that with the right spell could allow someone to follow your apparating path. Try as the aurors might, and even Rose's mother took a shot (for Hermione Granger, when her last name wasn't yet Weasley had been the smartest witch of her year), a path could not be found, making them almost completely unable to be caught.

With a group as dangerous as that on the loose, Rose felt like she had the right to be nervous.

Rose sighed and slammed her potions book shut on her desk. She couldn't concentrate, and a rumbling in her stomach made her decide to make a visit to the kitchens.

She got dressed quickly and grabbed her cloak off of the back of her door before walking down the stairs into the Head's Common Room. It was past midnight and the room was dark—the fire had died down to tiny embers hours ago. Rose felt along the wall towards the portrait so that she wouldn't bump into anything. Everything was quiet, even from across the room where Scorpius' room was. He had always been better at Potions, he'd probably get a full night of sleep while Rose would only get a few hours.

The kitchens were a short walk away from her dorm, yet another perk of being Head Girl. The house elves adored her. House elves tended to live longer than humans and many of them remembered her father and his voracious appetite. They also remembered his friendship with the famous Harry Potter. Any Potter or Weasley at Hogwarts always received a warm welcome.

"Hello Miss Weasley," chorused several house elves as she entered the portrait. One elf, Verick, whom Rose was on very good terms with produced a stool for her to sit on. "How are you Rosie?" the elf asked. Verick was short, even for an elf and incredibly shy. After years of sneaking into the kitchens Rosie had finally gotten him to talk.

"Very good." Rose looked around the kitchen. "Is there any chocolate pie left from dinner."

He shook his head at her, "You's is just like your father miss." Verick had been in the kitchens for a long time. Though he looked young he was actually near fifty years old. Fifty years old for a house elf was more around twenty or so in human terms however.

Rose sat on a stool and rested her arms against the counter behind her. "I'll take that as a compliment."

As Verick went to get her pie Rose made small talk with a few of the other elves. She learned that the gossip lately had been pretty dry. Their last big piece of information had to do with Scorpius' blowout on the Quidditch field at tryouts three weeks ago.

"We heard you was involved miss," the elf to Rose's left said, and then shuddered. "I wouldn't want to get on the bad side of a Malfoy."

"Scorpius isn't so bad," Rose murmured. She didn't notice the elf on her left give his neighbor a knowing look.

Verick came back with a plate stacked high with several globs of the chocolate pie that had been served at dinner. Rose took it from him and dug in. Chocolate pie was one of her guilty pleasures. When she was stressed the best thing to do was to go relax in the kitchens with chocolatey goodness. Her father had the same kind of habits. Her mother said it was an unhealthy form of psychosis to find comfort in food, but Rose and her father merely rolled their eyes at each other behind her back.

Rose needed to force her thoughts away from her worries over her dad. "So, how is the family?" she asked. A few years ago Rose had helped Verick have confidence in himself and talk to the house elf he'd been in love with for fifteen years.

Verick blushed. "Sweetie just turned three a month ago. How is your parents and Harry Potter if I mays ask?"

Rose dove into the conversation gratefully. It was much easier to fill her mind with chatter than to think about her father's possible whereabouts or worse, her looming potions exam.

It was an hour later before Rose was able to leave the kitchens. Her plan was to read through one more potions chapter and then go to bed and possibly sleep a little later than she usually did.

She was surprised when she opened the portrait door to find that the common room was lit up. The fire was now blazing again and it filled the room with a warm glow.

The furniture in the room was sparse but very comfortable. Two arm chairs next to a mahogany table, a book shelf, and a couch in front of the fire were the amenities. On the couch sat Scorpius Malfoy and he appeared to be reading something. He looked up as Rose quietly shut the portrait behind her.

They stared at each other. Rose was surprised that he was up so late to be reading through his potions material and Scorpius appeared to be just as surprised that she was out after hours as he could be with the chronic bored expression that constantly graced his face.

"You're up late," he ventured. It was the first thing he had said to her in three weeks.

Rose hesitated. His tone was conversational enough. "I was hungry so I went to the kitchens."

He nodded. The conversation seemed to be over. Rose started to walk towards her stairs when she heard him stand up. She turned towards him.

"Weasley—I..." he trailed off. His blonde hair was disheveled she realized and dark smudges were painted beneath his eyes. Still, despite the fact that he had obviously not slept, he still stood like a Malfoy—a stance that said you will not stamp me down. His aquiline nose was always in the air. Rose gripped the wrought iron railing and waited for him to finish his sentence.

He shook his head, as if trying to wake himself up. "Nevermind."

Rose felt a small lump grow in her throat. Would it kill him to apologize just once in her life. Ever the diplomat however Rose just nodded and said, "Okay," before taking the stone steps two a time and quietly going into her room.

Scorpius hated Ronald Weasley. He despised him with all of his being and he had known as soon as the Daily Prophet came out with his father exiting Malfoy manor in the custody of two Aurors that Ron Weasley had been behind it. Not Harry Potter who his father always went quiet about. Potter had resigned from field work a while ago. No, it was Ron Weasley who held the old prejudice.

Scorpius was sitting on the couch in Common Room in the middle of the night. He had finally gotten the fire going again. He hadn't slept a full night's sleep since his father was arrested.

Damn it all, and he had fucked things up with Rose. If Ron Weasley had ever done anything right it was fathering her. Even late at night with a spot of chocolate pie on the corner of her lip she looked gorgeous. He had wanted to kiss it off. He had wanted to apologize for his behavior. He had wanted to ravish her against the wall that was not but two feet behind her. And she was absolutely oblivious to everything.

Scorpius cradled his head in his hands and resisted the urge to break something. It would only wake her up and they had a potions exam in the morning. He was surprised that she had gone anywhere without _N.E.W.T. Level Potions_ permanently attached to her hand.

He hated himself and his treacherous cock. He wanted to despise her and her family and everything they had ever stood for. He had ended their friendship because her father, the stupid git, had done something unforgivable and now her father had gone and tried to hurt his family again.

He knew he should apologize. He had overreacted on the one person he knew exactly how to hurt, every time. His behavior was abominable and Albus had already berated him for it. Had already told him to apologize or he'd be sorry.

But he couldn't bring himself to do it. He was torn between wanting her and hating her. And as long as that happened he should avoid her.

He knew all of her habits. It would be an easy thing for him to do. How she studied on the couch for three hours every evening, and what route she took to classes.

Scorpius needed to go to bed. He couldn't keep his thoughts straight. He grabbed his wand off of the coffee table and shot a stream of water at the fire and the room was instantly darkened. Carefully Scorpius made his way up the stairs. Their first Quidditch game was Saturday and he didn't want to trip going up the stairs and have to sit out because of an injury caused by something so stupid as an accident.


	5. Chapter 4

Title: Like Water

**Title**: Like Water

**Summary**: Scorpius/Rose. We work through the differences that have haunted their families for generations. Set in their 7th year, 26 years after the war. Rated M for a reason.

**Author's Note**: Thanks to everyone who pointed out any holes in the story. They have been corrected. I apologize for the brief reconstruction of the story that occurred which at one point I believe had the prologue, first, and second chapters all up as one chapter and then the first and second chapters followed again. That was a weird glitch of some sort. Anyway, if I make any more glaring mistakes please let me know, you wouldn't believe the ideas I've had and then thought about later and realized that it was not DH compliant. Once again, thanks to all my lovely reviewers!

Chapter 4:

October, 7th Year

She tasted like ice water and every place that her body touched his burned him like fire.

She pulled away from the kiss and licked her pink lips. A shy smile curved across her mouth and then she dove against him. Elation poured through his heart. _She kissed him back_.

"Rose, Rose, Rose," he whispered against her skins as he peppered reverent kisses across the dusting of freckles over her nose and face. As he moved to her neck and offered a gentle kiss to her pulse point she sighed breathily, "Scorpius."

He groaned and pulled her into a more fervent kiss to which she responded with zeal. Amazingly quickly they were naked and her pale graceful arms were wrapped around his neck. She moaned and he almost lost it. He could drown in her and burn up within her all at once. She melted every part of him.

She gasped and arched her back. "I love you," he told her into the crook between her shoulder and her neck, unable to hold it back any longer. He had bitten those words back too long...

Scorpius Malfoy snapped awake, alone in his darkened room, caused by the thick green curtains over his windows. He cursed softly. He had had another dream about her. He rubbed his hand over his eyes and looked at the gold watch that sat on his nightside table. As he moved to pick it up he grimaced. _Another_ mess. He used his wand to cast a cleansing charm over himself and his sheets.

Grabbing his watch he tried to ignore the lingering sights of his dream. He had never seen Rose Weasley naked but he could imagine that his dream-Rose was quite close. Thinking about it some more wouldn't solve anything.

It was two hours before he actually had to get up. He and Rose had been invited to a special breakfast with the Headmaster and the greatest wizard of all time, the bloody "Boy-Who-Lived", Rose's uncle. Scopius would just as soon have slept in. He rarely ate breakfast because food in the morning tended to make him ill. He preferred a big lunch. Unfortunately this breakfast was considered an honor for the Head Boy and Girl so that they could ask, first hand, about Harry Potter's life experiences.

It was relatively bloody pointless. Rose had probably sat on the man's knee at the tender age of one and she and her cousin Albus Potter could practically read each other's minds. If there were any experiences he hadn't told Rose already he sure as hell wasn't going to tell Scorpius Malfoy about them.

And it wasn't like the whole school didn't get a visit from the great Potter in their Defense Against the Dark Arts classes every year. Scorpius had learned all that he felt he needed to know.

If he were honest with himself though, Scorpius was really projecting his dislike for the breakfast on Harry Potter rather than admitting that he was terrified to meet a member of Rose's family. Rose valued her family and while Albus liked him well enough Scorpius had a feeling that the rest of them didn't feel so warmly about him and his family.

Not that he needed their approval since he and Rose weren't likely to ever figure out a friendship let alone a relationship.

He wished his mind would bloody well shut up and let him go back to sleep. He flopped back on his pillow and stared at the ceiling, waiting for sleep to overtake him but it never did.

'Oh this is bloody awful,' Rose thought before taking a long swig of her morning pumpkin juice. She was bored almost to tears. She had never been involved in such a stilted conversation in her life, and quite frankly there were better things she could be doing. Like _sleeping_.

Her uncle was trying to make conversation but the Headmaster, Professor Marandi, was younger than him and had not even been at Hogwarts when her parents and aunt and uncle attended. Rose supposed she could give his overeager manner a break; he had only been appointed four years ago after Professor McGonagal had decided it was time for her to step down. But the play-by-play of the only twi-wizard tournament to occur at Hogwarts in two hundred years was something Professor Marandi could not be deterred from, no matter how many times her Uncle Harry tried to change the topic. Aunt Ginny had told her a long time ago that a friend of his had died during the tournament and that it was something he didn't like to discus much.

Meanwhile Scorpius was being entirely rude and staring at his plate like it might sprout legs and run away if he didn't watch out for it. He'd barely muttered two words and they had only been, "Hello, nice to see you again sir," something that could have been directed at her uncle of the headmaster; he wasn't really clearly.

Though he did look tired. Rose was rather worried about how tired he looked lately. If he didn't get more sleep his grades were going to start to suffer and that tended to make him particularly waspish.

"Rosie, how are your parents?" Uncle Harry addressed her. He probably had seen a few days ago at the Sunday lunch at The Burrow her grandmother, a particularly forbidding woman when she wanted to be, insisted the family go to every week. He must have gotten particularly desperate.

She smiled, "Mum's working hard on a case at the ministry which her letters describe as "difficult but engrossing"," which caused her uncle to chuckle because it was classic Hermione, "and dad..." Rose heard a grating swipe of a knife across a plate from Scorpius's direction, "he's, well you know dad."

The headmaster looked confused and a bit put out to have had the conversation redirected. "You don't see your brother and sister-in-law often?" he asked.

"Not as much as I would like to since I switched departments at the ministry," Uncle Harry told him smoothing, giving Rose a wink. Rose knew what that meant—now instead of seeing her father every day he saw him every other day for a pint at the pub and for family dinners which occurred often if Granmother Weasley had anything to say about it.

"I see, now about the Hungarian—."

"So, Scorpius, do you like how your classes are going this term," Harry Potter ignored the Headmaster.

Scorpius looked up, startled at having been addressed. "They're adequate," he told him.

Harry had clearly been looking for something a little more. "That's good. What's your favorite subject."

Scorpius's eyebrow raised, though he still looked relatively bored, "I rather like potions."

Uncle Harry was being shut out and he could detect it. He turned to look at Rose and Scorpius turned his eye to his plate. Rose wanted to chuck hers at his head. If she had to participate, _he_ had to participate.

"He's just being modest. Potions is his best subject. He positively flattens everyone in the N.E.W.T. level class," Rose piped in.

That got a rise out of Scorpius -- he looked absolutely shocked. As far as he had known Rose was still angry with him and yet suddenly she was dropping compliments.

"That's very good. I never took the N.E.W.T. level class myself, but potions was one of my better subjects."

Scorpius continued to be unresponsive and nodded.

Rose pushed her chair in closer to the table, and a little closer to Scorpius as well. As she moved her half empty plate away so she could lean innocently against the table she gave a well aimed kick to Scorpius's shin.

He jumped and stared at her.

"Something wrong?" her uncle asked concerned.

"I..." Scorpius looked at Rose who was now glaring daggers at him, and then focused his attention on her uncle, "I thought I felt something on my leg."

"Probably a house-elf," the Headmaster sniffed impatiently. He tried and failed to capture his idol's attention.

"Scorpius, why don't you tell my uncle about the potion you invented." Scorpius's eyes grew wide and he glanced at her like she was crazy.

Harry leaned in closer, genuinely interested. "Go on."

"It was nothing really," Scorpius muttered.

"Nothing?" Rose scoffed. Secretly she liked that she was making Malfoy squirm. "Our professor sent it to St. Mungos to be tested. You know, to make sure that it wasn't a fluke."

"It probably won't even make it past the testing stage," Scopius told Harry. The back of his neck was starting to flush pink.

"Would somebody please tell me what it is?" Harry asked the table, though the Headmaster who was currently nursing his wounds chose to ignore him.

"It's a healing potion prototype," Scorpius told him, finally breaking down. "It can be used to combat mental illnesses. Chiefly I designed it using a modification of the memory charm. It's supposed to be used to help older people, those with dementia or Alzheimer's, which we know affects both muggles and wizards alike but we aren't sure why. It's really complex because even we haven't figured out every crevice of the human mind. But there's talk, that if it successfully reduces demntia, that it can be modified to help those with more serious mental illnesses, such as those who have retreated into the recesses of their minds due to torture such as the Cruciatus Curse." Scorpius paused in his explanation because the man he was looking at suddenly had a very odd expression on his face.

Rose noticed the pause and murmured, "It's really good isn't it Uncle Harry?"

He looked distracted and he shook himself out of it, running a hand through his dark hair and briefly revealing his famous lightning bolt shaped scar. "Yes," he focused on Scorpius, "It's commendable really. You've done a very good job."

Scorpius looked back at his plate, "Yes well, it hasn't been proven to work for any of those things yet. It's only a prototype."

"Still, it is far more advanced an undertaking than what other aspiring healers your age put upon themselves. You do want to be a healer correct?"

Scorpius seemed to stiffen a big before saying, "My father wants me to take a job with the ministry. He believes that my... talents are better suited to politics rather than medicine."

"I see," Harry said, leaning back into his chair and giving the boy in front of him a serious look. "Well, we need good strong leaders, too. Don't get me wrong, the ministry is still a mess even after twenty years. And with new... obstacles cropping up it will probably be another thirty in the making."

"Yes sir," Scorpius told him quietly, his ice blue eyes meeting forest green.

Rose watched the exchanged with an eyebrow raised. She had noticed her uncle's pause before the word "obstacles". What "obstacles" did he mean? She knew the ministry had organization problems, her mother complained about them often enough when she came home late. But she'd also heard almost every member of her family lament about the previous reigns of Scrimgouer and Fudge.

The Headmaster decided that it was time to make another attempt at receiving regaling stories of the past. As he prattled one Rose locked eyes briefly with her uncle who rolled his eyes at her before turning his attention to the man sitting beside him. 'Now is not the time to ask,' she thought, 'But I sure as hell am going to talk his ear off later. After the Quidditch match.'

Almost as soon as he had exited the small private room the headmaster had reserved for their breakfast Scorpius took off on his broom. He'd brought it with him and left it with his cloak near the door for an easy exit. Though he appreciated Auror Potter's efforts at engaging him in the conversation, the entire breakfast had gone downhill from the beginning. If he'd been able to get away with it he would have stayed contemplatively quiet through the whole meal.

Unfortunately Rose had brought him into the whole thing, which had really surprised him. Not only was she complimenting him, but she knew about the potion, something that he had been rather secretive about, mainly because of his fears that it would fail, and fail miserably. He would have to ask her about it later, he thought as he kicked off from the ground and lifted into the air, since apparently they were talking again.

One of the places that Scorpius Malfoy was most comfortable was the sky. He didn't believe in the rubbish about going to a quiet place to work out one's thoughts, or writing in a diary. No, the best place to blissfully not think was on his broom. The Khaos 2000 had been a new broom his fourth year and now it was blissfully worn in – made of dark mahogany it was smoothly polished and very thin and light, especially compared to his father's old Firebolt. It held him comfortably and received amazing lifts through wind currents. He hardly hand to think to steer it, which suited him perfectly well.

Growing up, Scorpius had always wanted to be either a Seeker or a Keeper. His father had discouraged him from the Seeker position, (which he'd thought odd because his father had been seeker on the Slytherin team in his day) but he'd trusted his advice and it had been Keeper ever since. Even though he loved his position – he knew every trick in the book and then some to kick the Quaffle away from his goal post – he also loved the time to simply drift or turn loop-de-loops in the air, something he hadn't actually told anyone, not even Albus whom he was probably so close with because of Quidditch and their shared love of the Slytherin team. He'd actually been surprised when Albus had backed out of becoming a contender for Captain, using the fact that he enjoyed his leisure time as an excuse and paving the way for a unanimous vote for Scorpius.

Maybe it had had something to do with the fact that Albus had found Scorpius breaking his hand against a locker after having another row over something stupid – he could even remember what it was now – with Rose and had told him that he needed something constructive to focus his energy on. Scorpius had never asked and Albus had never told him.

He was riding high over the Forbidden Forest and the Great Lake now. In the distance was the Quidditch stadium and students were already milling over there to get ready for the game. Some people were even in the stands though the game didn't start for another two hours. Sighing, he began to do a few tricks to limber up. A couple of corkscrews and a few kick-backs, nothing special just the most basic tricks of the trade.

In the sea of students below he thought he saw a flash of red but he chose not to search for it. Rose rarely went to Quidditch games unless a family member or her friend Mirabelle begged her to. More than likely it was her cousin Lily, whose hair was the same bright shade, though, he found himself thinking, not as beautiful because it fell stick straight and Rose's was a mass of waves that he wanted to press his face into... he shook himself out of his thoughts. Any more daydreams like that and he was going to lose the game because he'd be too preoccupied thinking about her damnable hair that guarding the posts!

Feeling that he needed to get away from the crowds he soared up and away towads the Forbidden Forest, forgetting his disconcerting talk with one of his father's enemies, forgetting his past, and forgetting, if only for a moment, Rose.

Rose practically dragged her uncle away from the room once breakfast was over, choosing to ignore the fact that Scorpius practically bolted out the door the first chance that he got. "I need to talk to you," she told him when he tried to joke about the fact that he should probably spend some time with his kids and not his niece if he didn't want talk of favoritism strewn about.

"It won't take long," she added as she steered him out of the huge double doors that were at the entrance to the castle and into the courtyard. She looked around for a quiet place to talk and realized that the open-air tower seemed relatively empty. She towed her uncle up the stairs.

She was in luck. There weren't any students at the top. And those in the courtyard seemed to be steering themselves in the direction of the Quidditch field.

"Rosie," Uncle Harry said seriously, "What's wrong?"

Rose looked him directly in the eye, " Where is my father?"

"Rose," he told her gently, putting a hand on her shoulder, "I don't know."

Rose shook his hand off her shoulder impatiently and began to pace. "Look, I know that you say you don't know when you actually do. And I am not going to tell anyone where he is or what he's doing. I just want to know that he's safe and alive and.. I just want to know. If you can't tell me where he is, at least tell me what the mission is." She gave her uncle a pleading look and said her deepest fear, "Please tell me that it is an innocuous bit of underage magic that got out of hand in Switzerland or Oblviating a large group of muggles; just tell me it has nothing to do with the Triage."

Uncle Harry sighed and then said, "I can't tell you that, because I honestly don't know."

Rose stopped pacing and stared at him, "You _have _to know. You always know where the other is."

"Rose, because I'm not in the field I'm not privy to that kind of information any more. And if I were I couldn't tell you that anyway because it could put your father in very real danger."

"He would have told you," Rose was desperate and she knew that it showed on her face, "He would have told you and bugger the rules."

"Rose, honey," Harry gripped her arm and steered her towards the ledge and sat her down, "if he was going to tell anyone illegally, he would have told your mother. She asked him a thousand times in the beginning to simply get word to her and he refused to do it. And you know that your father would throw himself off a cliff if she asked him to. He's always been resolute that telling more than is absolutely necessary can become a very real danger and get people killed, including those he loves most in the world, Hermione, you, and Hugo."  
"In your honest opinion what do you think he's doing."

Her uncle pressed his lips together before saying, "If I were to hazard a guess it would be anything but innocuous. He's the most experienced Auror in the field nowadays."

"It's the Triage isn't it," Rose asked, swiping an angry and fearful tear off of her cheeks.

"Look Rose, Ron can handle himself. He is very good at what he does and he has always been a natural born strategist. He knows his limits. He _will_ be fine. I promise." That gave Rose the answer, her father was working to fight and find the Triage and there was a very real chance that he could get himself killed.

Rose pulled herself together and said, "You shouldn't make promises that you aren't certain you can keep," she told him quietly.

Harry nodded, "You're right. I apologize."

Rose shrugged, "S'okay. Can we go find Albus, Lily, and Hugo before the game?"

"Yes. Have I mentioned how nice it is that it is Slytherin versus Ravenclaw, meaning that I don't have to pick a side today?" he cracked a smile and Rose smiled back. In choosing between Lily and Albus Rose would have chosen Lily if only because Al would understand and Lily was a firecracker when angry, but she knew it was a harder choice for her uncle who wanted to show support both to his team from his Hogwarts years and to the son who often felt out of place.

"I even have my boy's colors," and from the pocket of his robes he produced a green and silver scarf which he promptly tied around his neck.

"Very good," Rose told him, even trying a smile that luckily didn't fall flat though her thoughts were far from happy.

Scorpius was irritated. He sat atop his broom watching his teammates in the distance mentally cursing. Not only were they two goals behind, but he was restless because he hadn't been amidst any of the action. How the hell that one Quaffle shots had made it past him was beyond him. And then his bloody beater, Maguff had won the other team a penalty shot, something that had never happened while Scorpius was on the team, because Maguff was a bloody baffoon.

Scorpius was gnashing his teeth. He looked up in the sky searching for Albus, the snitch or both. He could see Ravenclaw's seeker a short little guy which gave him an edge because the smaller a person was the less air resistance hurt their speed. Albus was nowhere to be seen, though Scorpius suspected that he was the green dot milling about the stands. Probably trying to impress fucking Bones, Scorpius thought.

He paced back and forth on his broom in front of his goals trying to stop himself from screaming – his team wouldn't hear him anyway.

"Come on Bagneel, toss the Bludgers at the chasers, the _chasers_ you bloody idiot. This isn't tennis between you and the Ravenclaw beaters!"

Sometimes things had a habit of slipping out despite his best intentions.

Something black skipped out of the shuffle of students and headed towards his goal, coming at a treacherous speed. Scorpius stared at it for a moment, dumbfounded. Bludgers were _heavy_ balls, they weren't supposed to move that fast. Either someone had a really good arm or--.

Scorpius dodged out of the way just before the Bludger would have snapped the handle of his broom (and probably his left hand) into pieces. Bloody hell he whispered as the Bludger dodged in an ellipse around the goal and went back towards the crowd of Slytherin and Ravenclaw chasers, whom, incidentally, were coming towards him and they didn't seem to be concentrating on the Quaffle.

Another black dot was following close behind them – the other Bludger – while the one that had gone for Scorpius bore down on them from the other direction. "What the bloody hell?" he asked aloud right before the one in back took Jeremy Izze, right in the back.

Jeremy toppled from his broom but he didn't fall far. New broom regulations had charms that grabbed the broomstick rider if he fell more than five feet of the of the broom. It was rough treatment – if a rider toppled with enough speed, the charm, which grabbed a person by the wrists, could pull a persons arms out of his sockets. Which, judging by the way Jeremy seemed to have blacked out, was probably what Scorpius had just witnessed.

"Fuck," Scorpius muttered before bellowing "_TIME_ _OUT_" at the referee. Before waiting for the ref's signal Scorpius took off on his broom towards center field.

The Bludgers had gone insane. They were turning at random and moving at impossible speeds. Two more Ravenclaws had already come down off their brooms and were floating mid-air like Jeremy. If this didn't stop soon one of those Bludgers was going to hit someone in the head and crush their skull in.

Scorpius pulled his wand out and cried, "Petrificus Totallus" at the nearest Bludger. It froze for a moment in midair and then dropped forty-feet to the ground. The other Bludger was whizzing in and around the Slytherin and Ravenclaw team members. Scorpius would have to try a different tactic unless he wanted to send a person toppling down like stone along with their broom.

And where the bloody fuck was an adult? There had to be hundreds in the seats, what were they doing, enjoying the student on Bludger battle? Scorpius heard the sharp sound of something airborne coming at him. He turned just in time to see the Bludger he had just petrified aiming for his head.

His instincts took over and he flipped up on his broom to try and knock away the Bludger. Because it was so much heavier than a Quaffle it crushed right through the end of his broom and he dropped ten feet before was able to level himself again. He swore before flying back upwards.

There were only two Ravenclaws and one Slytherin left in the bunch. The Slytherin was new to the team, a short guy named Doogle or Dougie or something like that. He was a chaser and he was white in the face as he dodged around the field. The other two were dodging as well and trying to hold their wands steady. They'd clearly tried some spells of their own, and none so far, had apparently worked.

Below them was a set of students all hanging from their brooms. Most were unconscious, a few were struggling to get down. The fact that the ref hadn't pulled them down yet worried Scorpius.

He tried to look around the field to see what was going on below but he was almost beaned by another Bludger. He flew upwards trying to think of a spell. He wondered if the thing would be able to put itself back together again if he blew it apart when he heard an angry shout from above.

He looked up and there was Albus who looked like he'd had a fight with the Whomping Willow. His nose was bleeding profusely and there were nicks and scraps of clothing ripped open all along his Quidditch gear.

"Where the fuck have you been?" Scorpius snarled at him.

"Me? Where the fuck have _I_ been? Where have _you_ been. Your broom's fucking broken what are you trying to do? Kill yourself flying it?"

"It's not like I broke it on purpose or do you not see the scene of bludgers attacking people left and right?"

"No, actually," Albus shouted back, "I've been busy being detained in the bloody Forbidden Forest. We've got to get rid of these things and then I've got to find my dad because their own their... watch out!"

Scorpius turned to look and saw, briefly, that his Slytherin was the only one still up and that a Bludger was about to crash into his chest, right before the worst pain of his life had crunched into him and he felt that he was sailing through the air when darkness overtook him.


End file.
